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Four Capitols
The Four Capitols '''are the four imperial palaces of the Far West: Thousandtrees, Skywar, Watercrown, and Stonetowers, which serve as seats for the Great Emperor of the Forest, Prince of the Sky, Great Emperor of the Water, and Great Emperor of the Stone, respective to both those seats and their domains of the Forest Empire, Principality of the Sky, Water Empire, and Stone Empire. '''The Four Capitals are the cities around these capitol buildings, though these cities are rarely considered capitals in their own right within the borders of the Far West. They are Thousandtrees Town, Watercrown City, Stonetowers Town, and Grand Dement. History: A century before the eruption of Mount Scorpion, a man had a prophetic vision that the Southern Empire would crumble around him due to some unknown cataclysm. This man set out from his hometown of Kornt or possibly Astelnks, with the goal of learning all that he could about alchemy. He believed that alchemy would become a lost art after the cataclysm, and that by learning it he would preserve it, and would also benefit his descendants by teaching them the practice. Little is known about alchemy in the Southern Empire by the time of Huron Space, but it has been determined that it fell into some of the same trappings of other alchemical traditions: humorism, obsessions with shapes and numbers, as well as the symbol of a self-devouring dragon, snake or phoenix (but no a sphinx like in an Oporosi Mark). The man became one of the first alchemists to ever really understand redstone, though what he wrote about it was lost to time. He became known as the First Alchemist. His son was the Second Alchemist, and the Second Alchemist's daughter was the Third Alchemist. The Third Alchemists finally gave birth to four quadruplet girls. The Four Alchemists, sometimes collectively known as the Fourth Alchemist. The Four Alchemists were in a small village called Gayush, just south of the Claw of Ires when the eruption of Mount Scorpion occured. They received visions of a castle being destroyed in an avalanche by the eruption, and of another castle being smashed apart by trees blown into it, of another castle being flooded in a wyrmwave, and finally of a castle being launched into the sky by the eruption. At once they came to the conclusion that immortality would only be possible for someone in charge of all four castles, which they deemed themselves fit to build. They shared these beliefs with their followers, among whom was a boy named Kalbal, later called Kalbal of the Claw, or Kalbal nok Kosh. Kalbal was an extremely arrogant boy, headstrong and determined beyond belief. He was also cruel, cunning, and conniving. For whatever reason, he got it into his head that the Four Alchemists' prophecy and belief about themselves was clearly meant to be about him, someone they had never even met. His people were raiders, and profited greatly from the chaos following the eruption and Fall of the Southern Empire. Rather than squandering that wealth on whores or alcohol, Kalbal, who was not even a particularly skilled raider, invested in weapons and armor for his men, while they wasted their money. Soon they became the wealthiests raiders in the land, and Kalbal attracted an army of men for himself, whom he was soon able to pay. He kidnapped the Four Alchemists, and tortured them until they fervently believed that he was the prophesized "Castlemaker." His torturer was a childhood friend, a cold, stern man, who shared Kalbal's ambition. He was an effective torturer, and more than that, was among the rising warlord's most-trusted advisors, and commanders. His name was Hololk, and he took on the name of his hometown, Gayush, as his house name. They first built Stonetowers, which during those chaotic times, was the only sign of hope in a dark world. This also attracted thousands of people to Kalbal's cause. Kalbal rallied the people against a common enemy, dragons, whom he derided as the cause of the eruption which caused the chaos. Kalbal did believe this to be the case, but did not personally so much care, as he had profited from the chaos. In reality, he had merely learned from the alchemists that the World Tree Laochalk was key to the prophecy coming true. The Battle for the World Tree took years to organize, but ended in a decisive victory for Kalbal, who changed his name to Kalbalkosh Laochalk, taking on Laochalk as a house name. Kalbalkosh was a nameless child, beloved of the nameless gods of this Earth. His Four Alchemists were his unintentional finders, and he tortured them until they revealed details of prophetic visions to him. They foretold of "A Beast o' Seven Heads, Seven Faces, and Seven Names, who in the Furthest West, beyond the waves at the world's edge, wears a diadem upon his brow, heavy like horns that never stop growing; He will claim the name, but he is not the wager of the war, he is but a pale, smoky shadow in the wake of the true Deer King." This prophecy terrified Kalbalkosh, who decided that he needed a worthy heir to fell whatever evil lay further to the west. His armies came down on Laogon, a snowy land full of lakes and rivers, home to the Raintrap. This land was foretold to be the future location of his son's birthplace, and so Kalbalkosh, Hololk, and their men descended on the land, raping and raiding for a solid four years. Tens of thousands died, and the Far West was first born of a series of great and evil crimes. At the end of the fourth year, a boy named Kosh was born to the rural mountain clan of Yul. The Four Alchemists, in revenge for their torture, tried to cast a hex on the hundreds of babes born in the last four years, and all but Kosh died horrifically, transmuted into meaty abominations. The Four Alchemists were drawn and quartered, and Kalbal and Hololk were left to seek out the "Beast o' Seven Heads." Category:Locations Category:History